Councillor’s bid to revisit casino decision sets off heated debate

Derek Spalding, OTTAWA CITIZEN05.24.2013

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney says changes to the political landscape in Ontario, particularly at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., are reasons enough to re-examine the decision council made last fall to approve a tendering process for a new casino.

OTTAWA — After months of no action on the casino file, one councillor’s unexpected bid to revisit council’s decision is set to ignite a controversial debate in Ottawa.

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney says changes to the political landscape in Ontario, particularly at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., are reasons enough to re-examine the decision council made last fall to approve a tendering process for a new casino.

Several politicians agree with him, saying there have been a lot of changes that warrant council’s reconsideration, including the resignation of the entire OLG board of directors after the ousting of former chairman Paul Godfrey (who is also the CEO of Postmedia Network, which owns the Citizen). Despite critics who prefer to wait until they can vote on the OLG’s preferred option for a casino, Tierney plans to put a motion of reconsideration before council in June.

“We have a new premier, a new finance minister, new leadership at the OLG and a new funding formula,” said Tierney, who added that he also wants more public consultation on the matter. “If that’s not enough new information to reconsider the issue, then I don’t know what is.”

Since council gave OLG the thumbs up to come back to council with a single proposal for an Ottawa casino, much has changed. New Premier Kathleen Wynne appears to have a different view of what gambling modernization might look like in the province and Finance Minister Charles Sousa, also new on the job, just announced a new casino revenue-sharing formula for all Ontario cities.

Tierney, one of five councillors who voted against the original casino proposal last fall, said enough has changed on the gambling file that it counts as enough “new” information.

Mayor Jim Watson disagreed. Though he turned down requests for an interview, he said in a statement he would not support a motion to revisit the issue.

Watson says “the OLG process remains the same as agreed to by city council last year, regardless of any changes in leadership.”

There are procedural hurdles to revisiting a previous council decision, including needing three-quarters of the votes from councillors, several of whom are still adamantly opposed to any new casino.

“I didn’t think it was a good idea then and I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans, who voted against the proposal last fall. Knowing the long-lasting impact of a casino, she wants council and citizens to have more discussion.

“Council was led to believe there was an urgency to make a decision at the time. Well, that’s just not true because Toronto took its time.”

Earlier this week, Toronto’s council overwhelmingly voted down a proposal for a casino, largely because even its supporters say there was not enough financial incentive.

Kitchissippi Ward Coun. Katherine Hobbs said she prefers to wait for OLG to bring forward the winning bid. One of the reasons she agreed with the initial vote, she said, was to keep the raceway in the bidding as a potential location for a new casino. “I don’t see any point in talking about it again at this juncture,” she said.

How the raceway fits into the casino decision is one of many unanswered questions. For years, revenue from OLG slot machines located at the track subsidized both the raceway and the related horse industry. But the province ended that slot-revenue sharing program at the end of March. What happens now to the horse racing industry is a bit of a mystery, especially after the premier’s comments last week about including the sector into any gaming restructuring plans.

These are questions that Coun. Keith Egli would like to put to the OLG. While he doesn’t necessarily want to formally reconsider the issue the way Tierney is proposing, Egli wants to put pointed questions to OLG executives.

“I think we were sold a bill of goods last time with the suggestion that if we didn’t vote in favour of the casino proposal, then that’d be the end of the raceway,” Egli said. “But now Wynne is signalling that she may be thinking otherwise. This file is very much alive.”

But Cumberland Coun. Stephen Blais and several of his counterparts scoffed at the push to reconsider the casino before the OLG comes back with its report on the preferred option.

“It’s a bad idea,” he said. “Those who support it are coming to conclusions about location and impact of a casino without having all the information before them.”

Revisiting the casino issue is “premature,” agreed Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Steve Desroches. He too wants to wait for the OLG report, so council will have “something specific to focus” their discussions.

He praised Watson for his efforts to convince the OLG for more equitable funding for Ottawa’s cut of casino revenues.

“Contrary to the views that we don’t have a say, clearly, we do have a say as a city and the evidence is seen in the mayor’s influence,” he said.

With files from Joanne Chianello

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